Sign in toAL.com

Alabama

Change Region

comments

Auburn legend Chuck Person joins Bruce Pearl's staff (updated)

Bruce Pearl Chuck Person

Auburn men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl, left, and Auburn legend Chuck Person watch as the Auburn women's team takes on Old Dominion Monday, March 24, 2014, during the second round of the WNIT at the Auburn Arena in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

AUBURN, Alabama -- Auburn legend Chuck Person will be an on-the-court assistant for newly-hired coach Bruce Pearl, the school announced Monday afternoon.

Person joins Tony Jones as Pearl's full-time assistant coaches. Pearl's son, Steven, will move down to assistant strength coach in the near future.

"It means everything," Person said of his hiring. "Being in the pros was a lifelong dream as a player and a coach, but to come back to the university where you really made an impact ... to be a part of this staff, to help grow" the program is "really special."

Pearl interviewed 12 candidates to fill the third spot on his staff at the Final Four last weekend. A decision on that hiring has not yet been made.

Person, Auburn's all-time leading scorer is well respected in the NBA ranks. Person has been on Auburn's campus for most of the last two weeks. Pearl even referred to "The Rifleman" during his
introductory press conference inside Auburn Arena on March 18.

"This is a pretty special day for Auburn basketball and the Auburn family," Bruce Pearl said. "I'm honored to have a person of Chuck's caliber join me in this challenge to coach this team. As he said, he's coming home. There's no place in college basketball where he would have settled. He has experience beyond his years."

Person said he will have to adjust to the college game, including recruiting and coaching players under new defensive rules. He spent 14 years as an NBA assistant.

"This is the only college I would have taken a job at," Person said. "My heart and my path took me to the NBA but this, Auburn University, my school, is the only job, the only school that I would come back to, to be a coach, whether it’s as a head coach or assistant coach to be a part of. This is my life."

Person will hit the road recruiting when the dead period ends Thursday. He will have plenty of pull inside the state of Alabama, Pearl said.

"He can go anywhere in the country and recruit," Pearl said. "He can certainly help us
regionally because he lived it and so many of the high school coaches
are coaches that watched him grow and know who he is. He knows many of
them personally."

Person played for former Auburn coach Sonny Smith, who coached the Tigers from 1978 to 1989 and won the program's lone SEC tournament title in 1985.

Person, 49, is Auburn's leading scorer and a two-time All-American during his playing days (1983-86). He scored 2,311 points in his career and led Auburn to the Elite Eight in 1986.

"He's a sponge," Smith said of Person. "Chuck is the only player I ever coached that came to the coaches' meeting and sat in on game plans. I never had one do that."

Person interviewed for the head coaching job at Auburn in 2010, when athletics director Jay Jacobs hired Tony Barbee. Person has not completed his college degree at Auburn.

Person says he will "eventually" get a degree. No timetable has been set on when he will take his remaining classes.